NY TIMES PUBLISHES ‘CRAZY VETERAN’ EDITORIAL

VFW to flood newspaper with good news stories

April 17, 2014

WASHINGTON
–
In response to an opinion editorial published this week in the New York Times,
the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is
asking the 1.9 million members of the VFW and its Auxiliaries to e-mail the newspaper
with their good news stories.

The
editorial published Tuesday was written by a young university academic who used
accused triple murderer Frazier Glenn Miller as the focus of her piece,
entitled Veterans
and White Supremacy. The author, Kathleen Belew, earned a bachelor’s degree
in 2005 from the University of Washington, and then two masters and a Ph.D.
from Yale. She is now a Postdoctoral Fellow in the History Department of
Northwestern University, and is also writing a book about Vietnam veterans and the radical right.

“The
First Amendment protects the free speech and expression rights of this young
author, and the rights of the New York Times to publish it, but it also
protects my right to disagree with the message,” said William A. Thien, the
VFW’s national commander and a Vietnam veteran from Georgetown, Ind.

“The
‘crazy Vietnam veteran’ label isn’t talked about much these days, yet despite
40 years of moving on with our lives and successfully reintegrating into our
communities, we all know the potential is just another headline away,” he said.

“The
shooting on Sunday in Overland Park, Kan., was as senseless as it is tragic,
but we cannot allow political pundits, the media or our academicians to use the
failings of one to once again paint all of us as damaged goods,” he said. “That
is why I am asking everyone to send their personal comments directly to the New York
Times, but in a positive manner, such as ‘I am a proud Vietnam veteran who came
home from war, went to work, raised a family, and continues to help give back
to my community and country. I am not damaged goods.’